Tamil Nadu notified 24 public holidays for 2026 through G.O.(Ms.) No.708 of the Public (Miscellaneous) Department. Twenty-three of them close state government offices and banks alike; the twenty-fourth, the annual closing of accounts on 1 April, applies only to commercial and co-operative banks. Five holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday this year, including Deepavali on Sunday 8 November. The table below gives every date, the day of the week, and what each one means for payroll and leave.
Holiday calendar 2026
| Date | Day | Holiday | Holiday Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 | Thursday | New Year's Day | Cultural |
| Jan 15 | Thursday | Pongal | Cultural |
| Jan 16 | Friday | Thiruvalluvar Day | Cultural |
| Jan 17 | Saturday | Uzhavar Thirunal | Cultural · Falls on Saturday |
| Jan 26 | Monday | Republic Day | National · Mandatory for private establishments |
| Feb 1 | Sunday | Thai Poosam | Religious · Falls on Sunday |
| Mar 19 | Thursday | Telugu New Year's Day | Cultural |
| Mar 21 | Saturday | Ramzan (Idu'l Fitr) | Religious · Falls on Saturday |
| Mar 31 | Tuesday | Mahaveer Jayanthi | Religious |
| Apr 1 | Wednesday | Annual Closing of Accounts | Administrative · Bank only |
| Apr 03 | Friday | Good Friday | Religious |
| Apr 14 | Tuesday | Tamil New Year's Day / Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Birthday | Cultural |
| May 01 | Friday | May Day | National · Mandatory for private establishments |
| May 28 | Thursday | Bakrid (Idul Azha) | Religious |
| Jun 26 | Friday | Muharram (Yaom-E-Shahadath) | Religious |
| Aug 15 | Saturday | Independence Day | National · Mandatory · Falls on Saturday |
| Aug 26 | Wednesday | Milad-un-Nabi (Prophet's Birthday) | Religious |
| Sep 4 | Friday | Krishna Jayanthi | Religious |
| Sep 4 | Monday | Vinayakar Chathurthi | Religious |
| Oct 02 | Friday | Gandhi Jayanthi | National · Mandatory for private establishments |
| Oct 19 | Monday | Ayutha Pooja | Religious |
| Oct 20 | Tuesday | Vijaya Dasami | Religious |
| Nov 08 | Sunday | Deepavali | Religious · Falls on Sunday |
| Dec 25 | Friday | Christmas | Religious |
Unlike some states, Tamil Nadu does not withdraw a holiday because it lands on a weekend. All 24 dates stand as notified, even though government offices are separately closed on every Saturday and Sunday in 2026. In practice that means a weekend-falling holiday brings no additional day off and no day in lieu, since the office was already shut.
January is the heaviest month of the year. Pongal on 15 January, Thiruvalluvar Day on 16 January and Uzhavar Thirunal on 17 January run back to back, and because the 17th is a Saturday the block runs straight into the weekend. Republic Day on Monday 26 January adds a long weekend nine days later. Staffing and shift cover need planning well before the month begins.
These holidays are declared under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, so the same list governs commercial banks and co-operative banks across Tamil Nadu. Banks additionally close on 1 April for the annual closing of accounts, which is not a government office holiday. Salary credits scheduled around these dates should account for the bank closure rather than the office closure.
Private establishments follow a different rule. Under the Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays) Act, 1958, every covered establishment must grant paid holidays on Republic Day, May Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanthi, plus five festival holidays fixed for that establishment. The remaining dates on the government list are not automatically binding on private employers, which is why holiday calendars vary between companies in the same city.
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Download PDFHow Tamil Nadu Holidays Impact Payroll and Leave Management?
Tamil Nadu's calendar creates two pressure points that most leave systems handle badly. The first is January, where Pongal, Thiruvalluvar Day and Uzhavar Thirunal cluster across three consecutive days and roll into a weekend, producing a spike in leave requests, shift swaps and overtime across manufacturing, retail and hospitality. The second is October, where Ayutha Pooja and Vijaya Dasami fall on 19 and 20 October, followed by Deepavali on Sunday 8 November. Because Deepavali lands on a Sunday this year, employees expecting a long break will find there is none, and the resulting queries land on HR.
The split between the government list and the National and Festival Holidays Act is the other complication. An organisation running offices and plants across Tamil Nadu has to apply the mandatory four national holidays uniformly, agree five festival holidays per establishment, and then decide which of the remaining government dates it will observe. A holiday calendar that separates statutory holidays from discretionary ones lets the system apply the right pay treatment automatically, flag weekend-falling dates so no compensatory day is wrongly credited, and give employees a clear view of their entitlement before the year starts.